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Gold medalist Sanya Richards-Ross charms Jaguars fans

Olympic gold medalist Sanya Richards-Ross, the wife of Jaguars defensive back Aaron Ross, shakes hands with Kathryn Boyer, 12, as she gives autographs under the stadium before Sunday's game.

Olympic gold medalist Sanya Richards-Ross enjoys the applause after her introduction during a break in the second quarter against the Texans at EverBank Field on Sunday.

Sanya Richards-Ross said winning two Olympic gold medals for the United States in London last month has changed her life in one regard.

“I feel like an American hero,” she said Sunday after signing autographs for Jaguars fans before the game against the Texans. “It’s been major. I can’t go anywhere without someone coming up and congratulating me and telling me how inspired they were. It’s the best reason to do it. It’s been unbelievable.”

Richards-Ross is the wife of Jaguars cornerback Aaron Ross, a free-agent signee from the New York Giants. Their family now has two Super Bowl rings and her gold medals in the 400 meters and the women’s 4x400 relay.

She was recognized on the field during the second quarter and got the biggest cheer of the day to that point. Later in the quarter, she kidded around with Jaguars mascot Jaxson DeVille, who dressed in a track uniform and wore a wig that was supposed to be an imitation of Richards-Ross’ flowing hair.

Richards-Ross has been the most visible wife of a Jaguar player in team history, thanks to her Olympic performance. The team has embraced her success, with coach Mike Mularkey allowing Ross to travel to London to watch his wife’s race, then stopping practice that day to allow players and fans into the stadium to watch a video of the race obtained from an Internet feed before it was aired on NBC later that night.

Richards-Ross said she will always be grateful for both gestures.

“For the Jaguars to allow my husband to come [to London], before he had played one snap for the team, and then for the organization to arrange showing the race in the stadium was really special for everyone in our family,” Richards-Ross said. “I cried when I watched that later. Aaron was also overjoyed.”

Richards-Ross said First Coast sports fans also have embraced her. That much was evident at the autograph-signing, which was originally scheduled to be for 30 minutes but was extended to 45 minutes because of the long line.

Clad in a Jaguars jersey and Jaguars-spotted leggings, she signed hundreds of small posters, posed for pictures and chatted amiably with fans under EverBank Field’s Bud Zone.

Richards-Ross later watched her husband make his first start of the season at home from a luxury suite.

“The people in Jacksonville have been beyond great to us,” she said.

Richards-Ross will make another appearance at EverBank Field on Monday from 3:30-4:30 p.m., when she and Jaguars players will conduct a combination track and football clinic for more than 100 children from Special Olympics, Dreams Come True, the Seamark Ranch and patients from Wolfson Children’s Hospital. Jaguars scheduled to appear are Maurice Jones-Drew, Blaine Gabbert, Greg Jones, Josh Scobee, Brad Meester, Terrance Knighton and Tyson Alualu.

The function is open only to the children from those organizations. Richards-Ross and the Jaguars players will offer instruction in the basics of track and field, football and the value of teamwork.